Meet the Director

Dr. Vincent Craig BondDr. Vincent Craig Bond

Dr. Vincent Craig Bond is Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Immunology, Principal Investigator, Morehouse School of Medicine RCMI U54 Center for Translational Research in Health Disparities (CTRHD), and Interim Director of the developing Morehouse School of Medicine Natural Products Research Center (NPRC).

He received his PhD in viral genetics studying Herpes Simplex Virus at The Pennsylvania State University. He completed postdoctoral training at the California Institute of Technology studying cellular/molecular biology, subsequently moving to MSM where he has been studying interactions between HIV and its human host. His group’s goal and subsequent work has been instrumental in showing HIV-modified exosomal vesicles (exNef) released from HIV-infected cells in viremic patients, are pro-inflammatory cytokines enriched. In T cells, monocytes, and macrophage, these induce immune activation, a hallmark of, and one of the strongest predictors of HIV disease progression. Their work has uncovered targets and potential therapeutics to modify HIV disease progression through 8 patents. This patented work has uniquely positioned his group to decipher the triggering mechanisms underlying inflammatory disease and has uncovered a potential therapeutic antagonist against the relevant cellular proteins driving inflammatory diseases such as cancer. He is also interim director of the Natural Products Research Center, where the team support research uncovering natural product-based therapeutics such as a potential plant-based viral therapeutic.

Simultaneously, Dr. Bond has successfully shepherded the RCMI Program through four 5-year cycles of renewal. He has also been an active participant in the RCMI Coordinating Center; RCC; a network of 18+ minority serving academic institutions. He is a leader, and participant in multiple other local, regional, and national/international organizations. These include but not limited to site Principal Investigator for the Deep South Resource Centers in Minority Aging Research (RCMAR), a long time member of the Emory Center for AIDS Research (CFAR), member of the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV), and a member of the Georgia Clinical Translational Science Alliance.